The mission of the Women & Politics Institute is to provide academic training to young women that encourages them to become involved in the political process and to facilitate research by faculty and students that enhances our understanding of the challenges women face in the political arena.

Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Women Are Power: More from Claire Ivers

Some people ask why would a woman want to run for congress?

I ask why would a womean not want to run for Congress (see my last blog)!?!

Women all over the world have the courage to join the police and serve in the armed forces. More and more, people have no problem with women pursuing these occupations. Yet, some people think that a women running for Congress or other public office is out of the ordinary.
Women running and serving in public office could provide us all a breath of fresh air!

Think about it: there are many more men than women in elected office. So when man has an idea, it's often like so many others and maybe not what we need right now. A woman could have a completely different angle or approach to some of the problems government confronts, a new idea that one no one has ever considered before. A woman president or more women in Congress is just what we need.

I think that some women don’t believe they are qualified for office because people wont’t listen to us or discriminate against us. I think that women sometimes don't have the confidence to run because of how we think our gender is treated.

There are some awesome women out there from Secretary of StateHillary Clinton to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Senator Olympia Snowe to Governor Linda Lingle to Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky (who I met at a WPI event!) and so many others. People need to make sure that they take more time to listen to the ideas of these awesome women.

Women have some much potential and it's time that we unleash it. A woman running for office is unsual. It shouldn't be that way! All women have power to change the world - it's time that we embrace the power and demand that people listen to our ideas. New ideas are the future. Women have new ideas. News Flash - women are the future!